Red Guardian
by toejam18
Summary: He was always there for her. He was her big brother. But he had to leave. When she falls in trouble, will he return to save her? Or will he stay as stubborn as ever. KnuxCream
1. Chapter 1

Red Guardian

_My first Sonic the Hedgehog fic. If anyone still cares about my Wrestling fics, I might update them later. They will probably be a while though._

_It's a Knuckles/Cream fic. With slight Amy/Espio. Knuckles, Cream, Amy, Espio, Charmy and Vector will be the main characters. It's not that I don't like the others, but these are the ones which will make the story work. For the sake of it the ages will be:_

_Knuckles - 22 Cream - 18 Amy - 20 Espio- 23 Charmy - 15 Vector - 27_

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story. :(_

Espio was currently meditating in the corner of the Chaotix headquaters. Business has been slow recently and they hadn't had any work to do since two weeks ago, which didn't pay very well as the job was minor.

He broke out of his trance and let out a lazy eye, looking to see if anything had changed since he when into the meditation. Not much. Everything was more or less the same. Vector was sitting on his chair with his hands behind his head and his feet on the desk infront of him. If it wasn't for him shaking his head to the beat on his Ipod it would of gave the illusion that he was asleep. Charmy however was asleep. He was curled up in the opposite corner of Espio.

All three of them were waiting for a phone call, someone to come charging through the door or a letter to tell them what to do. Going so long without work gets extremely boring. Especially when you still have to get dragged into the office everyday just to wait around. Plus, they needed the money. Something big. They needed it badly.

Espio was about to let himself fall back into the trance, when he heard a slam from outside the door. It sounded like the outside door being closed. Judging from the noise, it was as if the person was rushing. He opened his second eye and fixed them both on the door heading into their office. Charmy had started to stir as if the noise had woken him up, but Vector still had his music blaring so he didn't hear a thing. After a few seconds, nothing had came in so Espio relaxed.

It really surpised him when a distressed looking rabbit entered the office and shouted "VECTOR!" as soon as he had let his guard down.

Charmy let out a jump and got up instantly. Vector removed his earphones so they hung around his neck... or whatever the crocodile equivalent is of a neck.

Despite the emotional rabbit infront of him, he still spoke in a calm voice. "Vanilla, what is it that we owe this pleasure."

Espio rolled his eyes. Vector always seemed to be more of a gentleman when Vanilla was around. However, instead of answering Vanilla just let out a giant sob and started to cry into her hands.

Vector, as gentlemanlike as ever rounded his desk and pulled Vanilla into a hug. Neither of Vector, Charmy or Espio knew what the problem was, but it must of been big for Vanilla to give them such a display. She very rarely spoke to Espio or Charmy and had never came into their office for anything.

Espio stepped out of his dark corner and approached the two. Vanilla was now crying into Vectors chest instead of her hands. Charmy has buzzed up into the air and was waiting paitently for Vanilla to tell them what was up. When Charmy was patient, you knew something was up.

Vector had managed to shushed Vanilla enough for her to be able to string words together. She let out a huge sniff and then explained. "It's Cream. She went out with Amy to the edge of town. And they haven't came back. A person passing by had seen them get snatched by slavers."

Vanilla broke down and threw herself back into Vectors arms. Neither of the three knew how she had got this information, but none of them wanted to press her about it. The poor mother was in hysterics.

She let out a hard cough, and then managed to push out, "I don't want the police to handle it. I want you. I can pay, but not very well."

None of the Chaotix team had even thought of money since the rabbit had burst into the room. She was in no state to pay them, and they didn't really want to get her to cough up. Her daughter was missing and she was a friend.

Espio knew that Chaotix wasn't her first choice. It was nobodys first choice. But Sonic and Tails had gone on another mission not a week ago, and it would be a while since anyone will see them around. And it is extremely hard to track down Shadow and Rouge. Knowing them they were probably on another mission for GUN. Well, Shadow was. Rouge was either with Shadow or stealing something priceless. They hadn't been seen around Station Square for a while either.

Another 10 minutes had gone and Vector had calmed Vanilla down enough for her to leave relevant information. Amy and Rose were seen getting captured on the North East side of the town border, just before the Leaf Forest. There had been reports of a lot of slavers capturing people recently. Unfortunately, Amy Rose and Cream the Rabbit had been the next victims. Despite telling her not too, Vanilla had left a couple of hundred in payment for their services. Chaotix were currently in debate on what they were going to do.

"We can't just go blazing in there! We don't even know where their base is or how armed it is!" Argued Espio.

"We don't have much choice Espio! It will be less than a week until them slavers sell them on to a buyer and then what do we go? Then we're not just looking around the forest anymore, we are looking across the entire planet!" Vector shot back.

"That so, we still should work up a plan and get our facts right first. We could be on a wild goose hunt for the most of it."

Vector was about to yell back with a response, but Charmy intervened. "You guys! This isn't helping!"

There was silence before Espio muttered, "He's right."

Vector was about to agree but Charmy again, beat him to it. "I agree that we don't have enough time to do this properly, but I also agree that we can't just go walking through Leaf Forest when we don't know what we are looking for."

"Well what else are we supposed to do Charmy? We don't have much options."

"Well Vector, we won't be able to get much help on this. Sonic and Tails are on another mission, Lord knows where Shadow and Rouge have gone, Amy is captured and Big recently left for a fishing trip. But we still could get it."

"Help? Help from who? You just went down the list and no one is left. You want us to go to the Police? Because we all know they won't help. Or maybe we can try and call Silver and Blaze from the future. All we need to do is build a time machine." Espio replied angrily.

"Will you shut up and let me finish? This is Cream we are talking about. Who is basically a big brother to Cream? Anything involved with Cream he will help with. We have to go to-"

Vector cut him off. "No! Anyone else! That boy is far too stubborn. He won't help. He needs to guard his jewel."

"He's left it before to help Sonic!"

"Yeah, but that was when everyone still had contact with him. We haven't seen him in two years and Rouge was the last person to meet him and that was eight months ago!"

Charmy sighed, but kept on fighting. "Yes, but it's Cream. He would do anything for her! And vice versa!"

"Charmy is right Vector. Beside, it wasn't us that put him on his Island again. Nor was it Amy or Cream. He has no grudge that will stop him from fighting with us."

"His stubborness will!"

"As long as Cream is involved it won't..."

_Did you like it so far? R&R :D_


	2. Chapter 2

_No reviews :( Come on! I don't mind criticism as long as it is constructive. No flames :(_

Knuckles was currently relaxing on top of the Master Emeralds altar. It was the nearing the end Spring, so Summer was just around the corner. There was a cool breeze relaxing Knuckles as it went between his fur. The area around him was lush green as trees know had the right colour leaves on them, and the sun shone down hitting the morning dew on the grass and reflecting the light in other directions.

It truly was paradise.

Knuckles was lieing down on top of the altar. Very close to being asleep, but still conscious enough to be aware of noises around him. He had got back from his morning workout half an hour ago, and had been resting ever since. For someone who has been doing the same routine for the past two years it still does take a lot out of him.

It had been around 8 months since he had last been had a visit from one of his friends at Station Square, and that had been Rouge. Even so, that visit did not go so well as he had suspected her of trying to steal his Emerald from when she first said 'Hi'. It offended her that Knuckles still thinks of her as a threat, not a friend.

He's always found a way to push friends away though.

Shadow and Rouge was not enough trust, Sonic was jealousy, Tails was underestimation and he took Chaotix for granted. Always telling them to watch the Emerald while he was busy. And when he was done, not even a simple thank you or reward.

Lucky for him, Chaotix have always been patient with Knuckles.

Knuckles will never understand why.

Amy and Cream were the only ones who didn't find much faults with Knuckles. Amy because she had far too many of her own to go picking on other peoples, and Cream was said to be his little sister. He did not like Cream being referred to as that though. It put too much responsibility on him and didn't give Cream enough credit herself.

Knuckles felt as though Cream was upset at him. Well, he knows she is upset at him now. He had missed her 17th and 18th birthday and hadn't attempted to contact her in his past two years of isolation.

Knuckles felt Cream was upset at him before that though. It went all the way back to Knuckles' leaving party.

_-Flashback-_

_Half of Station Square was here. It was inside a fancy building inside Casinopolis. Knuckles didn't know much about it. Amy and Rouge had done all the arrangements. They had just told Knuckles when to turn up. That was his only job._

_Most of the guests were only here because they knew Sonic was going to be here though. Usually this would of fueled Knuckles' thrist of punching Sonic square in the face. Jealousy always stopped Knuckles growing too fond of Sonic. However, Knuckles was having too much of good time though to even pay attention to those thoughts._

_Most of Knuckles' friends had already said goodbye. The only ones worth mentioning who hadn't are Cream and Sonic._

_Amy's was defintly the landmark of all of them. That was always one of her problems. Being too dramatic._

_Knuckles was now making his way through the crowd to see another group of people on the other side. As soon as he got out he was stopped as a small yellow rabbit rushed into his arms._

_Knuckles chuckled. "Hello to you too."_

_Cream tried to say something but she was pressed against Knuckles' chest so he couldn't understand. Knuckles pulled Cream away and then asked, "Would you repeat what you just said?"_

_"I don't want you to go."_

_By the look on the poor Bunnys face, Knuckles could tell she was upset. The hopeful, innocent rabbit she was yesterday now looked distressed and desperate._

_"I don't want to leave you either, but I have too."_

_"No you don't! You haven't even gave me a good explanation of why you are leaving!"_

_Knuckles was taken back by Creams sudden anger towards him. "I told you before. It's complicated."_

_Cream glared at him. "Why don't you start explaining? No time like the present."_

_Knuckles sighed and faced downwards. He didn't want to look at Cream when he said this. "Apparently I've been causing a lot of problems. Sonic got a lot of stick on his last mission because he cost the goverment a lot of money in repairs. He took the blame for me. I'm becoming a nuisance with my 'don't think' attitude. Sonic and Tails are too nice to tell me, but I can see they think the same thing. It's better for all of us if I leave for a while. Go back to what I'm good at."_

_Creams look of steel started to soften. "But you can still say! Just don't go on the missions. You can stay with me or Amy!"_

_Knuckles done a half-smile. "Temptation is too great. Plus it wouldn't be fair to Vector if I kept his group on that Island just so I can be with you."_

_"But-"_

_"You're not going to change my mind Cream. You should know I'm far too stubborn."_

_Cream tried to protest but was lost for words. She then sighed and hung her head in defeat. "Yeah."_

_Knuckles pulled her into another hug. "It's not like we won't see each other again. I'm sure to be back someday, and you can visit!"_

_Cream pulled out of the hug, smiled weakly and nodded slowly. Her face then changed again and it looked like she had found more hope._

_"Can I talk to you somewhere? In private?"_

_Knuckles was puzzled, but nodded anyway. Cream led him outside to the balcony and looked up at him. "Knuckles, you know you say you don't like it when people say we are like brother and sister? Why is that?"_

_"I already told you. I don't think it gives you enough credit and it gives-"_

_Cream cut him off, her eyes glistening with hope. "-You too much responsibility. I know. But is there any other reason?" _

_"No. Why? Do you not like it for another reason?"_

_Cream sighed and she looked hesitant to speak. "Well, yeah."_

_Before Knuckles could reply or Cream could elaborate Sonic stuck his head through the glass door. "Hey Knux, why you out here? The parties in-" Sonic stopped when he saw Cream standing next to him. "Am I interrupting something?"_

_Knuckles didn't answer the question, he just replied, "Go back inside Sonic. I'll follow in a few minutes." Sonic nodded and pulled his head back through the door._

_Knuckles put his attention back on Cream and asked, "What did you mean? You never spoke of this before..."_

_Cream sighed frustratedly, muttered something under her breath and then said, "I love you."_

_Knuckles smiled and pulled Cream into another hug. "I love you too Cream."_

_Cream pulled away from the hug and steeled herself in front of him. "I don't mean like that!"_

_Knuckles looked puzzled and slowly asked, "How do you mean?"_

_"I mean like-" Cream just sighed and hung her head. In all the years Knuckles had known her she had never looked this upset. "Just go back inside. It doesn't matter."_

_"Cream please-" Knuckled tried to protest but was interrupted._

_"Knuckles please, just leave it. It's just me being stupid. Go inside. I'll be go in in a few minutes." She even done a weak smile to reassure him._

_Knuckled slowly replied with an "ok". He was completely baffled. He made his way back inside, and once he was past the glass doors he looked back towards Cream. She was looking over the balcony into the city. By her posture, she still looked very upset._

_Knuckles then turned around and saw Sonic getting told off by Amy and Rouge. Knuckles laughed. That boy was always getting into trouble._

_-end flashback-_

Knuckles was now deep in thought as he was sitting up and leaning against the Emerald.

Even on this day, Knuckles still doesn't realise what Cream was talking about. That had been the last time he saw her. Amy had told him that Cream had left the party not long after that. She didn't even say goodbye.

Cream had never came to see Knuckles. And when he went to visit his friends, she would avoid him. Amy or Tails would always come up with an excuse, but he could tell they were covering up for something.

Knuckles still got an invitation to both her 17th and 18th birthdays. However, he didn't turn up for either. In all honesty, Knuckles didn't think she would want him there. _After avoiding me for over 18 months, it was probably her thinking I would be offended if I didn't receive one._

Amy had screamed at him for not turning up to her 18th. She and Tails had visited him the following week, and Amy was far from friendly. She only stayed as long as she did because Tails took her in his Tornado.

Kind as ever, Tails stayed to be social with Knuckles. Even with the death glares the pair was receiving from Amy he made conversation.

It must be approaching Creams 19th birthday. That was the last time he saw Tails or Amy, and that was a few months short of a year ago.

Knuckles was shook out of his thoughts by a crash that happened not too far away. It sounded as though someone had landed on his island. He got up quickly and made his way towards ths source of that noise.

When he got close to the place where he thought the noise was heard, he saw something hovering in between the trees. Running on his toes, he lept towards it and brang it towards the ground. He was now sitting on the back of the intruder. He pulled back and was about to punch but he noticed the familiar colours which covered the intruders body.

"Charmy?"

"Knuckles?"

Knuckles got to his feet and pulled Charmy up with him. When the bee turned around to face him, Knuckles could see clearly that it was indeed Charmy.

"Oh boy Knuckles am I glad to see you!" He then pulled a radio up to his mouth and started to speak into it. "Vector! I found him."

"Vector?"

Charmy didn't pay any attention to the question, as he did not the notice the confused expression on Knuckles' face.

Espio then appeared next to Charmy. Any other person would of thought he appeared out of thin air, but Knuckles knew that Espio could turn invisible for a short amount of time.

"Espio?"

Espio acknowledged Knuckles with a nod of the head and simply spoke, "Knuckles."

Before Knuckles could ask what they were doing here, Vector came crashing through the trees.

"Vector?"

"Knuckles! It's good to see you! It's been too long."

Vector and Espio both walked and shook his hand. Charmy embraced Knuckles in a hug, which made the unsociable Echidna confused and he took a few steps back.

"What are you all doing here?"

The cheery faces which Chaotix were sporting just a minutes ago dropped, and Vector said in a low tone, "We need your help with something."

Confused with the change of manner in this conversation, Knuckles asked, "What with?"

"Somebody was captured and we need your help getting them back." Espio replied.

Kuckled sneered. "Why did you come to me?"

"Everone else is unavailable at the moment. You're our last choice. Hell, we were the clients last choice."

"What do you mean? You have Sonic, Shadow, Rouge or Amy. Why can't they help you?"

Espio sighed and repeated, "Everyone else is unavailable at the moment."

"Why do you need help anyway? You're detectives. Good ones. Why do you need help finding a missing person?"

Vector answered this time. "We don't have enough time. They are slavers. They will sell them to someone else, then our search becomes a lot more difficult."

Knuckles stiffened. He was running out of excuses. "Who will guard the Master Emerald if we are all in on this?"

"No one has bothered you for nearly three years. Eggman hasn't been seen for two of them. Who else is there?"

"I have more enemies than just Eggman."

Vector laughed. "And they haven't bothered you in years! Why would they do it now?"

"Because I'm not here to guard the Emerald."

Charmy who had been getting increasingly frustrated as this argument dragged on, finally popped. "Will you stop making excuses! Either come or not! Stop playing games! We have already said we don't have a lot of time!" Knuckles, Espio and Vector all were shocked, as the usual over friendly bee just had an outburst like that. Charmy smiled apologeticly. "Sorry."

There was a long pause as everyone looked at Knuckles. He signed in defeat and said, "Fine I'll go. Who is it that was captured?"

Everyone looked nervous to tell him, as they knew first hand about Knuckles' temper. Charmy was the one brave enough to do it. "Cream and Amy."

_Please review :( I'll love you forever :D_


	3. Chapter 3

_Thank you for the reviews :D I really appreciate them :D_

Amy slowly opened her eyes. She blinked a few times to fix her vision. Letting out a low groan, she stretched and sat up. Looking around the room she realised where she was and what had happened. Her and Cream had been following Cheese into the forest. The three of them were playing together and Cream and Amy were trying to catch Cheese. They hadn't been more than five minutes in the forest before they were grabbed from behind. There wasn't much time to put out any resitance as they were knocked out a few seconds later.

Amy didn't know how long ago that was. The sun was shining brightly through the two small windows, so it must of been over twelve hours. It was early evening when they had been caught. Amy peered over into the cell next to her. Cream was sleeping in it. They were both very small cells and they are the only cells in the room. Amy did not know whether or not there are other cells elsewhere, or if they were only two cells in this building. From the looks of it these bandits didn't care much about their prisoners. A poorly constructed bed was in both cells. It looked like it would collapse at the second anyone got on it. Amy made note to be careful getting in and out, otherwise she would have to sleep on the floor. There were toilets in both cells as well. For some reason they had put them behind little walls, so the person in the neighbouring cells could not seen them. However, if someone was looking in from outside the cell they would be able to see clearly.

Outside the cells were two smalls windows with bars in them. The sun shone from one window into Amy's, and the other one into Cream's. Below the windows there was a small corridor with a door at one end. A desk lay oppsite the cells which had Amy's Pico Pico Hammer laying on it, and Cheese was lying down next to it. He was trapped in some sort of glass box, which didn't have enough space for him to fly around. On the other side of the hammer was a keyring with two keys hanging from it.

A sudden chill made Amy shiver. Amy knew it wasn't the cold which made her shiver. It was fear. Fear of what might happen to Cream, herself, and even Cheese.  
She was the oldest and it had been her responsibility to look our for Cream. She knew that there were traders lurking outside the town. She had seen it in the news and had heard stories. Was it the slavers who captured them? Probably. Amy couldn't think of any other people who would want her or Cream. The only other name she could think of was Eggman, but he has been MIA for the last few years. And he never showed much interest in Amy or Cream anyway. His targets were usually Sonic, Shadow, Tails or Knuckles.

She shivered again. Knuckles. If it wasn't for fear taking over her, Amy would of probably growled. How stupid do you need to be? Well, to be honest she blamed the incident at Knuckles' party on Sonic. Having someone disturb you when you are telling a friend you love them just adds to the awkwarness. It had been the events after that had ticked her off.

That Knucklehead made no attempt to contact anyone after he got called back to that damn island. Not even Cream. Amy was upset herself at not being contacted by him, but Cream was a lot closer with Knuckles then Amy was, so she much of been close to heart break. Well, she already was heart broken. It was Amy and Rouge that had nudged her to tell Knuckles what she feels. But the stupid Echidna did not know what she was talking about.

Not turning up to the poor Rabbits 18th had been the last straw. Cream was counting on him to be there, Amy had made that obvious to him. But the damn idiot didn't even send a birthday card. Cream had looked liked she had fun, but it was obvious to Amy that she was wishing that Knuckles would show up. You find out that the person you love doesn't love you back, but you then find out he's stopped caring? That's what it probably felt like for Cream.

A gasping noise from the other cell pulled Amy from her thoughts. Amy turned and saw Cream sitting up, her eyes wandering with fright clearly displayed in them. Cream's eyes fell onto Amy. Cream managed to stutter out, "Amy?"

Amy smiled faintly and replied, "Hey Cream."

After Amy's acknowledgement Cream started looking around frantically again. Cream still portrayed the innocent Rabbit she was as a child. She looked a lot like Vanilla, but was still blessed with the figure of not carrying a child. Having the friends she had, Cream thought that it was her responsiblity to learn a trait which would help the group. Rouge had taught her the basics on fighting, but much like Tails, Cream lacked the killer instinct to finish off her enemy. So Cream chose to use her brain instead of her fists. Cream was the unofficial apprentice of Tails. She wasn't as good as Tails when it came to inventions, but proved to a very good rival when it came to computers. However, as Eggman suddenly disappeared a few years ago, she didn't have much chances to put them to use. She had used them on a few missions to stop Eggman in the past, but nothing big.

It was unknown on what had happened to Eggman. When they last saw him he had been fleeing a battle. It didn't feel like it was an end-of-war battle though. Usually it ends with Eggman using the most powerful robot he can muster, and Sonic or Shadow defeating it in super form. But this ended with Tails and Cream causing interference with the robots signal, giving Knuckles and Sonic an opportunity to destroy it.

It wasn't one of Eggman's best to say the least.

But Eggman had fleed, and swore he would be back. He was alive, and apart from his obesity, was in fine shape. Scouts have reported back saying Robotropolis is still standing. But he had pulled robots back to defend the city, instead of unleashing attack on any other city he felt needed to fall. It definitely keeps everyone on edge. Lord knows what he is planning in there.

It was Cream once again that knocked Amy from her thoughts. "Wh-Whats going on?"

Amy looked at Cream's worried expression and answered, "I'm not sure Cream. These are probably slavers, so they will keep us until a buyer is found." Hearing about how succesful the slaver business is she doubted it would be very long until they were moved, but Amy kept that to herself.

"Did you see who took us?"

Amy shook her head. "We were both knocked out extremely quickly, and no one has came to check on us since."

"Amy... Do you think Sonic will come this time?"

Amy pushed out another weak smile. "Of course he will Cream. When has he ever let us down before?"

Deep down, Amy didn't know. Sonic and Tails were assigned a mission a few days ago, so it would be extremely hard to track them down.

--

It was coming up to one whole day since Knuckles had agreed to help Chaotix. 24 hours had gone, and judging from what Espio had told him, they had roughly 70 left to find the pair of girls.

Knuckles, Vector and Espio were doing the field work, while Charmy was at the Chaotix headquaters giving them information through headsets. He was looking at the area of Leaf Forest through GPS. It wasn't as good as the one Tails has, as Tails' would show a live feed in video. Chaotix's only showed a still image which is refreshed once every 42 hours.

The group were making way back to the border of the forest as Charmy was identifying the area to see if there was any other buildings which the group could investigate. They had already checked out two, one which was abandoned, the other was a small cottage which housed an old squirrel and her Grandchild. Vector made note to kill Charmy when they got back.

Charmy hadn't got the idea that he was only supposed to report something suspicious, not every building. After Vector grilled him about it Charmy promised to be more careful.

They came to a small clearing, where they were going to wait until Charmy gave them another location. However, something gained Espio's attention before they could move out.

"Look over here!"

Espio ran over to a nearby shrub, with Vector and Knuckles following. A red bow tie was stuck to a thistle... an incredibly small bow tie. Espio picked it up and showed it to Knuckles and Vector.

"Cheese?"

"Must be."

"Is there anything that shows us what direction they went in?"

"Negative. I can't see- Knuckle what are you doing?"

As Espio said this, Vector turned his head to see what the Echidna was doing. Knuckles was currently on all fours crawling around the grass.

"There are footprints in the grass leading this way." Vector and Espio both shared a look, but both followed Knuckles as he picked himself up and followed the trail into a group of trees.

They got through the group of trees and came out by a river. They were stumps on the riverbank which were made so boats could tie up to it. One way went to a waterfall, and the other was a long river which twisted around a corner.

"Do you think they could of gone to the hideout by boat?" Vector asked.

"I don't know, but we're going to find out." With that said Knuckles grabbed his radio and talked into it. "Charmy? Are you there?"

"I'm here Knuckles, but you really should say over after every transmission, over."

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Can you see our position on the GPS?" There was a long pause in which Knuckles didn't get an answer. He let out a sigh and said, "Over."

"Sure! Then locaters really do work like a treat. You're buy a river? Am I right? Over."

"Yeah spot on. Can you use the GPS to follow the river in the South East direction, and tell us if anything is on the bank? Over."

"On it, over." There was a long silence where the only sound was Charmy humming. "There is something. It's a building right on the bank of the river hidden by trees on the other side. It looks like it's got a very small port where three or four small boats could park. Over." Charmy said at last.

"That sounds promising. How far downstream is it?"

"I'm sorry Knuckles I didn't quite catch that, over."

Knuckles growled out of frustration at how picky this bee was being. "That sounds good Charmy. How far away is it? Over."

"Very far. The river is very twisty, so that would add to the length of the journey. I would predict it would take around a day and a half to make there walking. Over."

Knuckles tensed at hearing this and let out a low groan. "Thanks Charmy. We'll contact you when we need you."

"No problem Knuckles. But if you want to end the conversation you should say over and out. Over and out."

Knuckles growled a second time and pulled back his arm to throw the radio, Vector caught his hand before he could release.

"Easy there tiger. Don't mind Charmy." Knuckles sighed and relaxed.

Everyone looked at each other, all thinking the same thing. 'Will Cream and Amy last a day and a half?' It was Espio that got them moving again. "We should leave now. If it does take a day and a half, we should be there by midnight tomorrow."

No one disagreed, but Vector spoke "We should stay in the trees and not the bank. There could be patrols down the river."

Espio and Vector nodded at each before jogging on ahead. Knuckles took another look at Cheese's bow tie, and the jogged after them.

--

_Sorry about Amy and Cream's section at the start mostly being an explanation on the other characters. It was a good time to introduce them in the story, and answer some questions you could be asking._

_Next chapter: The slavers have found a buyer. Who will get thee first? The heroes or the buyers?_


	4. Chapter 4

_Just a heads up, I've decided to scrap the Amy/Espio thing. Sorry if you're a fan. I just don't know how I'm going to weave it into the story. If you have an idea, tell me it and I'll definitly consider_

A loud 'clang' woke up Amy and Cream sometime the next day. Despite the ragged appearance, the beds were not too bad. Both girls were able to get close to a five hour sleep. Both their heads turned in the direction to see the door at one end of the corridor wide open. A Lion walked through the doorway, closing the door behind him. He had two sets of handcuffs with him, and was walking towards Cream and Amy.

When he got close enough he started to talk to both girls. "Put your hands through the bars, and I will not hurt you." Being the younger of the two, Cream stuck her hands out straight away. The Lion saw this, and went to her first. He put the handcuffs on so Cream's hands were wrapped around the bar, only being able to move them up and down. Amy had a lot more experience in situations like these though, so she did not put her hands out. The Lion walked over to her cell and repeated, "Put your hands through the bars, or I will hurt you."

Laughter slipped out of Amy's lips, and she answered quite cockily. "I would like to see you try."

The Lion raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Believe me when I say, you are in no position to speak like that to me."

"Oh? Is that so? Well, are you able to tell me why I am speaking like this?"

The Lion made a laugh which slightly unnerved Amy. "Gladly." Cream's facial expression was mixed between fear for Amy, and awe in how she was standing up to him. She felt disapointed in herself because she had crack so easily.

Amy's Piko Piko hammer was the target of The Lion. He grinned and picked it up. Pulling a face as he found out it was heavy, he walked over to where Cream's hands were wrapped around the bar. The Lion pulled the hammer up as if he was holding it like a baseball bat. He kept his eyes on the Rabbit, but started talking to Amy. "You've got to the count of five before I smash the rabbits hands."

Cream turned to Amy with a horrified expression. Amy hesitated as the Lion started his count.

"1...2...3.."

A shriek erupted from Cream. "AMY!"

"...4..."

"Alright!" Amy stuck her hands out the cell. "Don't hurt her. My hands are out here." Cream sighed in relief and the Lion turned to Amy, grinning from ear to ear.

He put the hammer back on the desk next to Cheese and put a pair of handcuffs around Amy's wrists. When both Amy and Cream's hands were tightly secured, the Lion pulled two needles out of a small, brown bag hanging around his neck by a black string.

Cream gasped at the sight of the needles, while Amy's widened. "What are those?!" Cream managed to choke out.

The Lion smiled an evil smile and said, "Don't you worry about a thing. These will only put you to sleep."

"Why do we need to be asleep? We were asleep when you came in." Amy asked.

The Lion snatched the keys off the desk and walked over to Cream's cell. "It's late evening. The people who are buying you are supposed to pick you up in the night sometime. These drugs will keep you out at the very least for twelve hours. We can't have you causing any trouble while our visitors are here to pick you up."

The cell door swung open, and the Lion walked in fiddling with the needle. He walked over to Cream and inserted it into the bicep of her arm. A small 'yelp' escaped Cream's lips, as the Lion was far from careful when inserting the needle. Only a few seconds had passed before Cream started to feel drowzy. The Lion freed her hands from the handcuffs, and Cream fell backwards onto the ground. She was blinking hard, trying to stop herself from falling asleep, but the drug was too powerful. Within seconds she was laying peacefully asleep on the floor.

The Lion walked out Cream's cell and locked it behind him. Copying the movements he did for Cream, he done the same to Amy. Before Amy could pass out, she was able to ask, "What is your name?"

The Lion grinned and whispered in her ear, "You will never know."

Letting the drug take her, Amy passed out.

--

"Charmy, how long are we from the base? Over" Espio panted into the radio.

"Uhhh... give me a sec." There was a short pause. "Around two hours at the pace you're going now, over."

Vector heard this and growled. Espio grunted and spoke back into the radio, "Thanks Charmy. Over and out."

The group had been running for over a day. The twists and bends of the river did not help their fatigue. They would only stop for a short break once every two hours. The break was usually only for around 20 minutes, but it is 20 minutes well spent. Espio was currently at the top of the pack, with Knuckles only a few steps behind him, and Vector trailing a little bit behind him.

They had just had a break, so the chances are that was the final one before they hit the base.

There were no encounters with any slavers, which worried Espio that it might be the wrong place. It was a win or lose situation for the team. All three were very confident that they would get there in time, but whether or not it was the right place was a different story.

But still, they kept on pushing. Running in a fast jog until they reached their target. Any thoughts of fatigue or stopping could be easily forgotten by thinking of either Cream or Amy. It was luck they had kept their body in such good conditions, otherwise they would of been screwed. Espio was suprised that Vector was doing so well. _He really would do anything for Vanilla..._

It was now pitch black. Espio guessed it must be around 10PM. It had been nearly two hours since they had spoken to Charmy, and they all had taken the pace down to a light jog. They rounded another corner of the river, and what they saw made them stop and sigh in relief.

There was a small boat yard up ahead.

--

The Lion approached a small, female Squirrel who had a headset on her. She had just finished speaking into it, and was now taking a sip of water.

"Zoe, how long until they arrive."

Zoe jumped, spilling water on her lap. "Tien, you scared me."

Tien smiled and kissed the squirrel on the forehead. "Sorry. How long until they get here?"

"They just contacted in. They are coming in from the east, and should be here in half an hour."

Tien frowned. "The east? Isn't that where that big robot city is?"

Zoe shrugged. "I was never good at geography. As long as he keeps his word and pays, I don't really care."

Tien laughed before asking, "Does The Boss know?"

"No. I was just leaving to tell him. Will you tell him while I get myself another drink?"

They both shared a peck on the lips, before Tien answered. "Sure. You tell Tank, Trix and Lisa on your way. They're in the lounge."

Another kiss was shared before they both walked off in the directions they needed.

--

_I don't know how long it will be to my next update lol. I brought Spore today, and apparently it's addictive. I'm enjoying writing this though, so hopefully not too long.  
R&R_


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